Blueberries
by oceangliding
Summary: Tony is sleep deprived again, Bruce has had enough of it, and admits to something he's only very recently realized.


"All I said was that I think it would be a good idea for you to go to sleep, Tony!" Bruce yells, placing his hands firmly on his head out of frustration.

"Why the hell do you care so much if I'm sleep deprived? I'm busy, anyway." Tony replies quickly as he turns off the holographic model he's working on.

"Yes, I can see that, and so am I, but you've been awake for almost three days." Bruce paces in front of Tony's desk.

"Yes, I know, but I've almost finished this part! I'll even show you, if you want, just stop shouting and calm down." He proposes almost pleadingly. Bruce lowers his hands and brings his pacing to a halt, causing Tony to lean back in his chair with a sigh.

"Fine, and then you'll get some sleep?" Bruce says in a much lower, calmer voice.

"Right, sure, get that chair there and bring it over here." Tony straightens his back and gestures towards the chair near Bruce's work station, and for Bruce to join him on the opposite side of the desk from him. Bruce does so.

"Now … you see this." Tony turns the hologram back on and sets it to show a whole 3D map, which causes Bruce's eyebrows to raise ever so slightly out of curiosity.

"It is … my personal first draft of the whole 'city of the future' idea that my dad had designed." Tony explains.

" … guess I thought I'd give it a shot."

The map is like nothing Bruce has ever seen before, towering skyscrapers, large complexes, the main power source -the arc reactor- in the centre of the virtual city, surrounded by palm boulevards and an abundance of breathtaking modern structure. Tony not only knew how to put things together, but he certainly had an eye for beauty.

"It's only a very basic design, I have an idea about the mechanics, of course, but all that's here is the city layout and some building exteriors. I'm just working on the outer suburbs right now." Tony explains with a hint of dissatisfaction in his voice. Bruce's face keeps the same look as before, baffled and astonished.

"Wow, Tony this is fucking amazing, I … when did you start working on it?" The harsh tone that was present in Bruce's voice only minutes before is nowhere to be seen, it would be hard to imagine this Bruce shouting, almost impossible to imagine the other guy even existing.

"Well, er … thanks, Tuesday afternoon I think, so about 77 hours ago." Tony answers almost absent mindedly.

"Wait, so you're telling me that you designed all this - " Bruce gestures to the blue city glowing in front of them. " - in 77 hours?" Bruce says whilst wheeling his chair back to take a wider look at it.

"Yeah, I guess." He says, shrugging and scratching his head a little.

"Have you even eaten anything?" Bruce asks, glancing around the lab for any sign of food.

"Blueberries." Tony says holding up the shiny packet of fruit. Bruce smiles at the memory, surprising himself that he actually remembered it. Also surprised by his thought pattern.

_'That's probably not enough for Iron Man'_

They sit in silence for a few minutes whilst Bruce watches Tony fiddle with some of the buildings.

"You … never answered my question ... why, do you care if I'm sleep deprived?" Tony notices Bruce's face tense up and the atmosphere shift with his words.

"Well … I, I don't know."

"You obviously do know." Tony points out.

"Um, well, I, er, I …" Bruce stutters whilst forcing himself not to tremble.

"Bruce, just spit it out, please." There are a couple of seconds pause before Bruce hurriedly mutters:

"I kind of like you and so I care a lot about you and you look like hell when you haven't slept for days and yeah, I think I like you- a lot."

Tony almost misses it, but the words 'like' and 'you' stick out prominently, so he catches on, Tony nods, processing the new information, Bruce closes his eyes and rests his face in his hands. Tony gently removes them slowly, letting the tears run down his friend's face. Bruce shakes off Tony's grip and gets up, and starts to walk off. Tony jumps up and follows him.

"Hey!" Tony almost cries.

Bruce stops in his tracks, Tony grabbing hold of Bruce's arms, Bruce's eyes closed again. Tony stares straight at them, tightening his grip on the other man's arms, waiting for a response. Bruce's lids slowly flutter open. He tries to get away again, but Tony's grip stops that. Bruce tries to object, but Tony swiftly moves his hands up to rest Bruce's cheeks, bringing their faces closer together, Bruce's eyes almost pleading. Tony places his lips on Bruce's, whose tears -to get away- are running freely down his cheeks, Bruce starts to lose some of his tension, he stays, and slowly starts to kiss back. Bruce's arms, which had previously been locked at his sides, move to Tony's shoulders, pulling him closer. Tony moves his hands around Bruce's head and settle in his wavy hair. Tony parts his mouth and runs his tongue along Bruce's bottom lip, looking to deepen the kiss. Bruce tenses up again, and pulls away. Tony doesn't object, assuming he has gone to far.

"What's up?" Tony asks.

"The ceiling." Bruce replies in a flat tone, not even looking up.

"I'm sure I can fix that if, it's bothering you, but I don't see why it would be."

Bruce gives a small chuckle.

"It's just a lot to process so quickly, that's all."

"Says genius Bruce Banner."

"Emotions aren't really my area, and I thought you'd just kick me out the tower for admitting to that."

"Bruce please, why the hell would I do something like that, first off, you're my friend, best friend even, secondly, I'm not about to just kick you out, especially when I feel the same way." And with that Bruce slams his lips back onto Tony's, immediately starting where Tony had left off before he'd tensed up. Bruce's grip settles in the small of Tony's back, whilst Tony runs his fingers slowly through Bruce's dark hair. Bruce gently pushes Tony against the nearest wall, which happens to be less than three metres away, thankfully. Bruce moves his hands onto Tony's front, tracing patterns on the thin material covering his chest, he slides his palm underneath the fabric and settles it on the arc reactor, the other hand gripping his shoulder tightly. Tony moves his lips down to Bruce's neck and plants tiny kisses down slowly.

"Uh, Tony!" Bruce groans, Tony just chuckles lightly and carries on, but it doesn't take long for him to surrender his lips back to Bruce's.

Almost out of nowhere, JARVIS speaks up:

"Miss Romanoff is requesting permission to enter, Sir."

"Can she not wait?" Tony grumbles.

"She says it is urgent, Sir." Tony huffs.

"Just let her in, we'll get it over and done with, so we can get back to what we were doing." Tony sends a look to Bruce, having separated from him after JARVIS's new information. He just grins.

The doors slid open and a flustered Natasha walks up to them.

"This better be important." Tony says skeptically.

"Fury has called an urgent meeting, Stark."

"What on earth about now? It's almost midnight!"

"He didn't specifically say, but he did mention Coulson."

"It sounds important, Tony." Bruce pipes in.

"Hmm, yeah, well, let's go then." Tony looks down at Bruce's hand and outstretches his, as a silent offer, Bruce takes it questionably and they all start out the lab. Natasha simply raises her eyebrows at the two.


End file.
